LINGUIST List 3.342

Fri 17 Apr 1992

Qs: Japanese, Fonts, Alingual Adults

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. , Japanese Language Houses
2. Eric Schiller, IPA Fonts
3. , ALINGUAL ADULTS

Hello,
 I'm new to this list(as of about 40 seconds ago) and I hope that you can
help me. I am interested in language houses and how they work(read that
"every little detail that you can remember") because we (at Hobart and William S
 mith Colleges) are trying to establish a Japanese language house. But
obviously the formula would be the same for any house. So please email
me any information that you might have. Any and all information that is
relevant will be gladly accepted. Thank you very much in advance,
patiently awaiting replies from each and every one of you,

 Dan
 COXHWS.BITNET

Thanks again,
 Dan

I have had the good fortune to be in contact with John Renner from Adobe, who
designed the Stone IPA fonts. Perhaps after the rush of CLS I will post a long
description of the problems IPA faces, but the most important point is this:

Windows was badly designed and does not support zero or negative width
 characterr
fonts. Renner has complained to Microsoft, and we should too. There is no
rational excuse, since the Mac supports them just fine. Getting everyone to
switch to the Mac would suit me just fine, since I am much more comfortable
there anyway, but it is hardly a realistic solution. I can confirm that I have
had exactly the same problems with my fonts in Windows as John has with his.

I would appreciate hearing about any ideas addressing this problem.

Eric Schiller

I know there is some literature (incl. a recent book) about
adults (I guess deafmutes usually) who grow up alingual but
manage to live independently in society. However, I cannot
track down the references (not for want of trying but perhaps
for want of knowing where they would be). If anybody has such
references, I would very grateful. Since the topic is of
(a)linguistic interest, I will summarize if anything emerges
in response to this query.